游戏邦注：本文作者为Joshua Porter，本周主要讨论人类行为同应用设计之间存在的紧密联系。

我每天都在Twitter看到自己的关注对象抱怨其他用户一味关心粉丝数量。最近听说有个十分淡定的用户竟然言语激烈抱怨某些用户太过着迷获得更多粉丝，他们一般通过不断发布“请转发！”或者“关注我！”之类的言论获得关注。

twitter from meiti6.com

但谁会不留心自己的粉丝数量呢？坦白说，如果让你选择，你也会希望自己的粉丝数量能多点吧？

这就带来问题：如果用户无法获悉自身粉丝数量，那么Twitter带来的改变何在？如果Twitter设计师移除页面显示的粉丝数量，迫使用户依靠回复或转发获悉周围动态？你能否接受？Twitter如何能够改变你的行为？

人类都有获得关注的本能。例如，我邻居的女孩在未能获得关注时伤心地哭了。我3岁的女儿不习惯失去关注，她现在正经历重大心理转变，因为她开始意识到自己并非全世界唯一的小孩，她如今有个妹妹，妹妹也是关注焦点。关注是所有人面临的核心问题。设计师需牢记于心。

我通过多角度分析用户粉丝数量判断用户所属类型。如果我的粉丝其自身粉丝数量很少，那么我猜他们是微博新手。如果粉丝自身粉丝数量众多，那么他们应该是自动生成粉丝，这表示他们不在乎内容质量，只在乎关注度。如果某个用户拥有庞大粉丝，但关注对象却很少，那么我猜他们获得粉丝应该是有原因的（游戏邦注：这通常表示什么好原因）。显然这些数据并不能说明什么问题，我只能通过它们获得某些信息。我们总是不会错过任何手头拥有的数据。

当然我们并非一味留心关注数量。我们也收集很多其他信息。多数电子游戏都是基于物品收集。收集资料越多，获得的成就就越高。Mario和Luigi收集的金币越多，表现就越好。这存在因果关系。我们深知体验这类游戏，收集是取得成功的途径。如果你们希望获得更多有关游戏和收集背后的心理元素，请阅读《Psychology Behind Item Collecting And Achievement Hoarding》。

当然，游戏并非灌输用户收集思想。游戏仅仅是借用该元素。技术使我们免于成为收集者。我们使用技术收集物品。我们一直都在收集东西（游戏邦注：比如艺术品、贝壳、书籍、木柴、回形针）。人类的核心活动就是收集，不论是真实物品，还是虚拟道具。

设计师需铭记行为至上，不论是古怪、难以捉摸的行为，还是徒劳、恼人的举止，抑或是令人叹为观止的举动。如果设计师希望在设计中融入人类行为，就需要留心观察。设计师该如何支持收集行为？如果尽是徒劳，会带给设计何种影响？这会扼杀某些有趣行为，还是帮助促使采用相关服务？

你会发现很多成功的社交软件产品/服务都关注收集社交物品，比如照片、书签、朋友和吸血鬼。这并非巧合，人类收集行为是个顺理成章的活动。支持这类行为的活动成效自然更大。

我们当然也有反面例子，就是当我们一无所有的时候。尤其是当用户，例如刚使用某个服务，或刚加入某个社交网络。所以基本情境如下：用户注册、登陆某个面板，然后一无所有。没有朋友，没有文章，没有图片，没有书签，什么都没有。这并非什么好体验，只会驱逐用户。

这就像我们说：“嘿，那个收集的家伙，你一无所有，你最好开始收集！”

所以设计师其实能够帮助用户启用某个软件的同时满足其收集行为。就像MySpace所做的那样，为每个新手用户提供至少一个朋友（游戏邦邦注：但你加入MySpace时，就会自动和Tom成为好友）。或者你可以提供样贴，让新手知道帖子是什么，如何操作。或者如果你决定创建生活日志，何不提供些样板让用户获悉其框架？这就好比给搬新家的人提供就座的地方。

所以，让我们再回到行为方面。有些令我们抓狂的行为是人类经历的核心：

1. 我们需要关注。

2. 我们收集物品。

3. 我们需要地位。

4. 我们一无所获。

5. 我们做相应判断。

这些行为不会很快消失。所以与其指责这些行为，不如开心接受！我们需弄清某一行为和我们创建的情境是否契合。有时会会出现不符。但我们无法消除该行为。所以如果设计师真心希望设计优秀的软件，至少应该考虑下行为因素，判断应该抵制还是扩充这一行为。

设计师其实常常能够充分利用某些行为。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Behavior First, Design Second

by Joshua Porter 

Not a day goes by without someone I follow on Twitter complaining that others are too focused on growing their follower numbers. Just yesterday someone who I know to be a very calm person went on a verbal rampage complaining about someone who was way too worried about getting more followers…by doing things like saying “Please retweet!” or “Follow me!” one too many times.

But really, who doesn’t at least notice how many followers they have? And, if you were honest, wouldn’t you say that if you had to choose, you would probably want more rather than less followers?

Here’s a question: how would Twitter change for you if you didn’t know how many followers you have? What if the designers at Twitter removed the number from all screens/APIs and forced you to rely on replies or retweets to let you know what was going on? Would that be OK with you? How would it change your behavior?

Humans are hard-wired for attention. My newborn girl, for example, cries when she’s not getting attention. My 3 year old, who isn’t used to not having attention, is going through a major psychological shift in her life because she’s realizing that she isn’t the only child in the universe…she now has a sister who will be getting attention as well. Attention is a core human issue for all of us. As designers we need to keep this in mind.

I use follower numbers in several ways to judge the type of person who is on the other end. If I’m followed by someone who has very low following/follower numbers, then I know they’re probably new to Twitter. If someone has really high following/follower numbers, then I know they’re probably an auto-follower, which suggests they might not focus on quality conversation as much as attention. If someone has high follower numbers and low following numbers, then I know they have an audience for some reason (it might not be a good reason). Obviously, these numbers don’t tell you everything…but I use them to give me an idea. When metadata is available…humans will look at it.

We don’t just collect attention, of course. We collect lots of things. Most video games are built entirely around the premise of collecting things. The more you collect the higher your score. The more coins that Mario and Luigi collect, the better they do. It’s a causal relationship. We understand when playing these games that collection is the way to achieve success. For more on the psychology behind gaming and collecting, read The Psychology Behind Item Collecting And Achievement Hoarding.

Of course, games did not instill the collecting behavior in humans. Gaming merely exploits it. We haven’t become collectors because of technology. We use technology to help us collect things. We’ve been collecting objects forever…art, seashells, books, firewood, paper clips. A core human behavior is collecting things, real and virtual.

As designers we must remember that behavior comes first. Always. The quirky, the obscure, the vain, the annoying, the wonderful. We need to observe human behavior if we are to support it in design. If people collect things, how can we support that? If people are vain…how does that affect the design? Will it kill some interesting behavior…or will it help drive adoption of the service?

You’ll find that many successful social software products/services focus on the collection of social objects such as photos, bookmarks, friends, vampires. This is no accident…people collect things as a natural matter of course. Software that supports the behavior will naturally be more successful.

We also have the opposite case…when we have nothing. This is particularly relevant when talking about people new to a service…when you just join a social network, for example. So the scenario is this: you sign up, you land on a dashboard of some sort, and you have nothing. No friends, no posts, no pictures, no bookmarks, nothing of any kind. It’s not a good feeling…and its a great way to drive people away.

It’s like we’re saying: “Hey you, the one with the collecting behavior…yeah you’ve got nothing!…you better start collecting!”

So as designers we can actually satisfy the collecting behavior at the same time we’re helping people get started with software. Do what MySpace did and give everyone at least one friend to start with (when you join MySpace you are automatically friends with Tom) Or, you can provide a sample post to let people know what a post is and how it works. Or, if you’re building an activity stream why not seed it with a few items so that people know what that’s like? It’s kind of like giving people a place to sit when they move into a brand new home.

So, back to behavior. Some behaviors that drive us nuts are core to the human experience:

1. We want attention.

2. We collect things.

3. We want status.

4. We are vain.

5. We make judgments accordingly.

These behaviors aren’t going away anytime soon. So instead of decrying such behavior, we need to embrace it! We need to figure out how it fits within the context of what we’re building. Sometimes it won’t. But we can’t dismiss it. If we are really serious about designing great software then we have to at least give this type of behavior some thought, considering whether we should or whether we can damp it or amplify it.

And, from time to time, possibly even take advantage of it. （Source：bokardo.com）